Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed Bows Out of Ga. Senate Race

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Mayor Kasim Reed once again asserted his desire to remain mayor of Atlanta and not pursue statewide office.

In an interview on MSNBC this morning, Reed declared himself uninterested in the 2014 race for Georgia’s US Senate seat, but had a couple of suggestions as to who might figure in on the Democratic side.

“I’m just loving being mayor; I’m focused on being mayor,” Reed said. “I think there’s some terrific candidates out there. I think Congressman John Barrow would be terrific. I also think Peter Aman, my former COO would be terrific as well. I’m going to keep being mayor.”

The rush for potential new candidates for US Senate was created when Sen. Saxby Chambliss announced he would not be seeking reelection at the end of his term.

Meanwhile, the AJC reports US Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Savannah, spent the afternoon at the state Capitol, meeting with Gov. Nathan Deal and House Speaker David Ralston.

The paper also reported that in the next few hours, US Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, R-Coweta County, will declare himself content with his current congressional seat, and will remove his name from consideration.

US Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Marietta, declared himself “very, very interested” in the seat and said he is polling. Like Kingston, he talked up his statewide connections. And Westmoreland officially ruled himself out.

Reed was on MSNBC talking about President Barack Obama’s trip to Minnesota and a commercial that supported Obama’s anti-gun violence campaign. Reed spoke at length during the interview about last week’s shooting in an Atlanta middle school that left one student injured.

“I also have made the proposal to link every single school in the city of Atlanta into our video integration system at police headquarters so that we can have eyes in our schools,” said Reed. “And in the event there is a tragedy, it will allow us to deploy our police to the campus much faster, and it will give us eyes on the ground.”

Reed made similar comments about seeking a second term as mayor and not seeking higher office at a meeting in February with the Atlanta Association of Black Journalists.

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